Racing game device



Oct. 16, 1956 Filed Feb. 1, 1954 H. A. ALMOSLINO 2,766,986

RACING GAME DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TIE-.5

4 2,766,986 Patented Oct. 16, 1956 RAClNG GAME DEVICE Hans A. Almoslino, Hollis, N. Y.

Application February 1, 1954, Serial No. 407,384

5 Claims. (Cl. 27386) This invention appertains to improvements in amusement and entertainment devices, which embody moving objects, and relates to improvements in the mechanical construction and mode of operation of such moving objects.

Broadly, the primary object of this invention is to produce a movement, in a longitudinal direction of an object by the alternate tightening and slackening of a pair of parallel cables on which the object is mounted. The cables extend through angularly related openings in the body of an object and, when alternately tightened and slackened, such cables cant the body from side to side and produce a motion of the body, simulative of a walking motion, and cause the body to move longitudinally dong the lengths of the cables.

Along this same line, another object of this invention is to produce an up and down rocking motion of the object, simultaneously with the side to side walking motion, which motions are not only simulative of the walk ing motion of living animals but also are responsible for the directional travel of the object.

Another object of this invention is to group a number of such objects together in the form of a game device simulative of a horse race and to simultaneously move the objects from a starting point to a finishing point, thereby simulating a horse race.

in this regard, another object of this invention is to provide a series of parallel pairs of cables, an object simulative of a racing horse being mounted on each pair of cables and to provide a common operator for simultaneously effecting the alternate tightening and slackening of each pair of cables, whereby all of the objects are simultaneously moved in a directional sense from a starting point to a finishing point.

A further object, along such line, of this invention is to provide means arranged transversely of the directional path of movement of the objects and interposed between the starting point and finishing point for impeding in chance fashion, the directional progress of certain of the objects, whereby the element of chance is added in producing a temporary halting or slowing up of certain of the objects in their movement toward the finishing line.

Generally stated, the essence of this invention resides in the formation of openings or passages through a body from the front to the rear thereof, the openings or passages diverging from the front to the rear. Each of the openings or passages receives a flexible element, the two elements being disopsed in side by side parallel relation. Such elements may be constituted by the side by side reaches of a single cable, which has its ends fixed and its center portion looped around an operator, such operator being rotatably mounted to effect an alternate slackening and tightening of the reaches. The operator is disposed forwardly of the body with the fixed ends of the cable disposed rearwardly thereof, so that the transverse spacement of the cable ends rearwardly of the body is greater or passages converge toward the front of the body, it can be understood that when one of the reaches is slackened, the other reach will be tightened and the body will cant or turn sideways. In other words, when one reach is tightened, the body is turned by such tightening and the opposite end, on the slackened reach, is moved forwardly. Thus, the end on the tightened reach forms a pivot for the body which turns about such end.

Thus, the body, upon the alternate tightening and slackening of the reaches, is moved from side to side in a walking motion from the ends of the cable toward the operator.

Considering a common operator for many pairs of side by side cables, each pair having a body mounted thereon, it can be seen that a rotational movement of such operator will produce a simultaneous movement of all of the bodies relative to the operator. This structure lends itself readily, though not exclusively, to use as a horse racing game. Since the bodies, however, will move forwardly at approximately the same rate and, therefore, would theoretically reach the operator at the same time, means is provided in the path of the directional movement of the bodies to temporarily impede or halt the movement of certain of the bodies in a chance fashion. For example, such means may be in the nature of a hurdle, which would be transversely imposed in the path of movement of the bodies and would have projections which would by chance be struck by certain of the bodies and serve to temporarily halt the progress of such particular body.

The foregoing and ancillary objects and structural features of merit are attained by this invention, the preferred embodiments of which are set forth in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of one form of construction of the moving object and the means for moving the object;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the form shown in Figure 1 with the object shown in section to illustrate the passages formed through the body for the reception of the cables;

Figure 3 is a top plan view, showing one reach of the cable tightened and the other reach slackened to illustrate the manner in which the object is canted to one side and moved in such fashion, from a position at right angles to both of the cables;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 with the reaches of the cable shown in opposite slackened and tightened condition from that shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of another form of construction of the object, particularly in connection with the formation of the passages or openings therethrough;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view of the object shown in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on the lines 7-7 of Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a view in perspective of another form of construction of the moving object.

Figure 9 is a view in perspective of a racing game, which embodies the principles of this invention;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary perspective view of the body portions of the objects and a hurdle and is illustrative of the relation between the body portions and the hurdle projections, and

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the hurdle per se.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings and initially to Figures 1-4, the numeral 19 designates a moving object, which may be complete as shown or more preferably, constitutes the body portion of an object, the latter being simulative of any desired human or animal form or the like. In other words, the body portion 16 will generally have a projection which in nature would be simulative of a human or animal form.

The body portion 19 is in the form of a block and, as shown, is rectangular. However, it is obvious that the block is not restricted to a rectangular form, the essential feature being that the block has front and back walls, such as the front wall 12 and back wall '14- of the body portion 19. The body portion is formed with openings or passages 16 and 13, which openings or passages extend through the front and rear walls 12 and and converge from the rear wall 14 to the front wall 12 org-conversely stated, diverge from the front wall 12 to and through the rear wall 14. Thus, speaking of the body in its direction of longitudinal movement from left to right, the openings or passages 16 and 1% are formed through the rear Wall 14 and are divergent. The openings or passages receive the 'reaches 2il and 22 of a cable 24 which has its ends fixed to pins 26 and Z8 rearwardly of the body portion ill. The cable 24 is twice looped around a vertical dowel 3f) 7 which is rotatably mounted on a suitable support 32 and has-a handle 3 which projects therefrom and is normally positioned forwardly of the reache 20 and 22 in parallelism therewith. The dowel is exemplary of one form of operator, the important features being that the operator receives the cable and is so associated with the cable thatthe reaches 29 and 22 can be alternately slackened and tightened. Mechanical means may be substituted for the manual force necessary to effect the rotary motion of the dowel thus supplementing the handle 34. Also, it will readily be understood that two separate parallel cables may be used in place of the reaches 2t) and 22 and may be so associated with an operator that a motion of the operator produces an alternate tightening and slackening of the cables.

In considering the manner of movement of the body portion lit on the reaches 29 and 22, attention is directed to Figures 3 and 4. In Figure 3 the dowel 39 has been rotated clockwise to slacken the reach 26 and tighten the reach 22. 7 Since the reach 2 3; is slackened and the reach 22 is tightened, it is obvious that the body portion will be canted and its end 36 will move to the left while its end 38 will move to the right. In other words, the body is pivoted about its end on the tightened reach 22 and the end 38 is moved forward.

The tightening of reach 22 forces the moving object to pivot around end 3&3, thereby moving end 33 forward. End 35 has been more or less static at this operation (although the only static point lies about half-way in the hole of the tightened reach), but generally speaking, the end Se -has remained on the same spot, as far as forward movement is concerned, while the other end 38, has moved'forward a certain distance. 'The actual movement is, of course,- measured by the forward movement of the exact center of the block, which is always moving half as fast or far as one of the ends, the end always,

body portion 10 will be moved to the position shown in Figure 4 under the pull of the reach 2% as it is moved from a slackened position past its normal position to a tightened position and the reach 22 is completely slackened.

Thus it is the relation of the two reaches and 22 with the convergent passages 16 and 18 that'produces the alternate canting of the body and walking motion of the body portion in a longitudinal direction on the" reaches. When one reach is moved'from its normal position of Figure 2 to a tightened position then the other reach is simultaneously moved from its normal position openings or passages 16* and 18 which converge from the body portion 10 is mounted on the reaches, in a manner 7 rear wall 14 to the front wall 12 in a similar fashion to the construction shown in Figures 1-4. However, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the passage 18 is inclined upwardly from the front wall 12 to the rear wall 14 while. the'passage '16 is declined from the front wall 12 to the 7 rear wall 14 Such inclination and declination of the passages produces an up and down rocking motion of the body portion as the reaches Ztl and 22 are alternately tightened and slackened. Therefore, not only is there a walking motion of the'body portion 16 but there is also an up and down rocking motion of the body portion as itis moved by the alternate tighteningand slackening of the reaches. 7

In Figure 8, the body portion ltl isformed with a front wall 12 and a rear wall 14 The openings or passages 16 and 18 converge from the rear wall l to the front wall 12*. Such openings are in the nature of vertical slots, which extend through the bottom walll) of the body portion 10 tion can be merely placed on the reacheslzfi and 22 with the reaches being passed laterally into the passages. Thus, the body portion 16 can be passed laterally onto the reaches and does not have to be threaded onto the reaches as is the case in the form's'of Figures 1-4 and Figures 5-7. The open mouths of the passages 16 and 18* at the'bottom wall 40 enable such lateral passage of the reaches into the openings or passages to be achieved.

The closed inner portions of the passages may be so' inclined and declined in the manner of the construction of the openings or passages 36 and 18 to produce an up and down rocking motion of the body portion iii Thus .46 and 48. The top wall 44 is providedwith transversely spaced longitudinally extending parallel slots 5&9. Mounted in front of the front Wall 46 is a roller 52 which is rotatably journalled in supports 54 and 55). A handle member 58 extends laterally from the center of the'roller and is normally disposed in a horizontal plane, projecting forwardly of the front wall 46. Pairsof cables ht identical to the cable 24 are mounted on the roller and have their reaches 62 and 64 extended through suitable openlugs 66 formed in the front wall 46. .The ends of the cable 60 are suitably attached to the rear wall 43. The

as illustrated in Figures 5-7 andis provided with an exextend above the top wall 44 and, obviously, the body portion 10 and cables would not be visible. 7

. Rotation of the roller 52 will cause an alternate slack- V V ening and tightening of the reaches ofeach of the cables Since each of the horses would move forwardly in its slot at the same rate of travel incident to the identical movement of each body portion on its cable since all'of the cables are simultaneously actuated by a common operator, a hurdle means 70, shown in Figures 10 and 11, is provided to impede or temporarily halt the movement of certain of the body portions and their attendant horse 1 objects. There may be one or more of such hurdle With such form the body pen means interposed in the longitudinal directional path of the body portions, that is, transversely of the cables and the slots 50. Such hurdle nxeans is preferably mounted beneath the top wall 44 of the housing and may be, as shown in Figures and 11, in the nature of a rod 72. The rod 72 has its ends rotatably mounted in upstanding supports 74 and 76 and the rod is balanced so that the rod will come to a stop at will. The rod is formed with projections 78, which, as shown, may be in the form of integral U-shaped lateral extensions thereof. A straight rod may be provided and may have lateral prongs on it constituting the striking or abutting surfaces of the rod. The number of projections 78 will, of course, depend upon the number of body portions and horses since there will be a projection at the path of movement of each of the body portions.

For example, in considering Figure 10 wherein four body portions are provided, the rod 72 is formed with four projections 73 which are spaced 90 apart on the rod. Therefore, the projection 78 will be abutted by the front wall of the corresponding body portion 10 and will temporarily arrest the forward movement of such body portion while the forward movement of the other body portions will be unimpeded since the other projections lie without the forward area of movement of their body portions.

Therefore, the other three body portions will pass over the rod while one of the body portions 10 will be halted temporarily.

As the hurdles rotate very freely, the moving object which happens to be blocked, will be halted till the moving object, which happens to be on top of the projection, which faces rearward, has moved past the center of the hurdle, and allows the halted object to rotate the projection forward and downward, to have a clear path.

On returning the horses to the starting line after the race, the hurdles will be rotated backwards, taking therefore a new position after each race, automatically.

The application of the principles of my invention, as shown in Figures 9-11, is, of course, merely exemplary since the particular construction of the body portions and mode of movement thereof can be used in connection with other games, apart from a racing game.

It is due to the fact that the openings or passages in the body portions are situated obliquely to the direction of movement and the distance of the two openings from each other in front of the body portions is smaller than the distance between the two openings in the rear of the body portions and the alternate tightening and slackening of the cable reaches that the body portions are progres- I sively moved forwardly in a side to side motion.

Of course, the use of the term forward is not to be considered in a restricted sense since it is to be understood that the movement is a relative one from the fixed ends of the cable to the operator.

While the preferred embodiments of this invention have been illustrated in the drawings and the application of the principles has been specifically illustrated, it is to be understood that such is in the nature of an exemplary showing, the invention only being limited by the scope of the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. An amusement device comprising a pair of side by side, transversely spaced flexible elements, means connected to such elements for alternately tightening and slackening such elements, a body member disposed transversely of the flexible elements and having a front and rear face, said body member being formed with a pair of oblique openings extending through the body member and through the front and rear faces thereof to receive the fiexible elements, said openings converging toward the front face and one of said openings being inclined from the front face to the rear face while the other opening is declined from the front face relative to the rear face.

2. An amusement device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said body member has a bottom wall and said openings extend throughout their lengths through the bottom wall from the front to the rear face.

3. An amusement device comprising a series of parallel pairs of flexible elements, each pair of such elements being arranged in side by side relation, and such elements of each pair having free ends secured in adjoining fixed relation and a connecting center portion, an oscillating operator on which each center portion of each pair is looped in spaced relation and which simultaneously alternately slackens and tightens the flexible elements of each pair, body members arranged transversely of each pair of flexible elements, means formed through each body member for receiving the flexible elements of each pair in such a manner that each of the body members is moved on its pair of flexible elements in side to side rocking motion toward the operator responsive to the alternate slackening and tightening of each pair of flexible elements produced by the oscillation of the operator.

4. An amusement device as claimed in claim 3, Wherein each body member has a front and a rear face and said last means includes oblique openings passing longi tudinally through each body member and extending through the rear face and front face and converging toward the front face, one of said openings being inclined from the front face to the rear face and the other being declined from the front face relative to the rear face.

5. An amusement device as claimed in claim 3, wherein each body member has a bottom wall and said openings pass throughout their lengths through the bottom wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 849,857 Santen Apr. 9, 1907 2,643,885 Ford June 30, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 377 Great Britain 1908 23,462 Great Britain 1914 643,744 Great Britain Sept. 27, 1950 

